


Like Ships in the Night

by Heart_Seoul_Soshi



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F, unrequited Malvie and totally requited angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2018-12-22 21:39:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11975562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heart_Seoul_Soshi/pseuds/Heart_Seoul_Soshi
Summary: Mal and Ben were the warm fairytale ending.  Evie, with her blossoming feelings for her best friend, was the one left in the cold.  She finds solace in Audrey, who too is lamenting a lost love in the form of Ben, and together, she and Evie may find just a little bit more. But when Mal begins finding a little something in Evie, who will truly get the happily ever after?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> from an anonymous request on tumblr

Evie was smart.  So very much so.  
  
She’d grown up on the Isle of the Lost; she was street smart.  She’d been given her chance to shine at Auradon Prep; she was book smart.  Through Mal, Carlos, Jay, those on The Isle, and those at Auradon, she’d gotten glimpses of life from very different perspectives and very different angles; she was wise.  
  
It was nothing new to her, merely buried under the flawless makeup, perfect hair, dazzling smile, and fabulous clothes—the trophies her mother had taught her time and time again to prize above all else.  Smarts wouldn’t win her a prince, after all.  But that was back home, and this was Auradon.  
  
Evie had the solutions to all the equations the teachers threw at her, she had advice for the pressing matters her friends and classmates confided in her, she was the girl with the answers to all the questions.  
  
Except for the question of when exactly she’d started to fall for her best friend.

It was something that happened to her every time Ben dropped off Mal from a date, everytime Mal gushed about the sights they’d seen.  Evie would smile and giggle and gush right along with her as the actress she never realized she could be, but hidden behind her apparent excitement was the sudden clenching in her chest that made her breath catch in the worst possible ways.  Ben would walk with the VKs as they went from class to class, and Evie’s hand itched and burned with an invisible rash each time she glimpsed him and Mal with their fingers intertwined together.  She would hear them in the evenings outside the dorm room door, the two of them talking, quietly laughing, murmurs of a “goodnight"—and each time, a pulse-pounding second of anxiety where Evie braced herself to hear the silence of a goodnight kiss, followed by the heaviest sigh of relief when Mal dodged Ben and ducked into the room.  Evie didn’t know what she’d do if she ever heard that silence.  
  
She puzzled over when this all happened like she puzzled over homework, only with her smarts, she made a much easier job of the homework.  It became as much a part of her nightly repertoire as her other assignments did; study math, study chemistry, study Mal. Read her history, read her notes, read Mal.  
  
It didn’t help that Mal would be there, parked on the bed with a dreamy smile plastered across her face with thoughts of Ben.  There was a dark streak buried within Evie that wanted to say she looked ridiculous, like a complete fool with that asinine grin stretching her cheeks.  Nothing like the Mal she knew on The Isle, and everything like a dopey idiot.  But no, Evie wouldn’t say it, wouldn’t even let her mind think it for too long a stretch without admonishing herself for it. Mal was her best friend, and Mal was happy.  
  
So Evie kept her pretty mouth shut.  
  
But that didn’t stop her hands from continuing to burn—or even worse—curl into fists at the sight of the royal couple.  On a deep and somewhat delusional level, Evie thought that Mal might understand.  That even though she wouldn’t reciprocate any feelings, Mal would smile, and hug her, and thank her for coming to her with the truth.  But no.  That was a road that held no way back.  Ending on good terms or not, their dynamic would never be the same after such an admission, and Evie couldn’t handle that.  Not having Mal as more than a friend was already starting to tear her apart, she absolutely couldn’t have Mal as less than a friend, too.  
  
But every day, every week, it was like walking on glass to get through the fire.  
  
Ben would find time in between king duties to take Mal out for afterschool lunches.  Mal would more often than not wear her leather jacket, holding memories of her very first date with Ben at the Enchanted Lake.  For Evie, it held memories of doing Mal’s makeup, of the innocent smile she wore while her cheeks were dusted pink with blush, of how Mal sat perfectly still while Evie dabbed a soft finger on her lips.  The radiance she caught of herself in the reflection of the mirror, and the way she nuzzled into Evie in thanks.  Evie didn’t know it back then, slowly shutting the door with a dazzling grin stealing over her features; she thought she wanted to be there on that date to see how things turned out.  Now, she understood that wasn’t it.  
  
She just wanted to be there on that date.  
  
And every time she wasn’t, every time Ben showed up with his knock on the door to whisk Mal away, she felt it like needles in her chest.  Sometimes Mal would ask her what was wrong, she’d catch the sighs and the quiet distance and the way Evie spent some nights desperately clutching a pillow to her heart like a beloved teddy bear.  Evie, the actress she never realized she could be, would snap herself out of it to jump behind a mask of smiles and warmth.  When she answered "nothing” to Mal’s inquiry, Mal believed it, not pressing the issue because she was convinced her best friend was alright.  And that was all she’d ever ask for.  
  
Evie never thought she’d see the day when being Mal’s roommate became unbearable, but here she was.  Ben, Ben, Ben, that was the only talk that was ever in the room.  She understood completely—this was all new to Mal.  Brand new and fresh and exciting and how could Mal  _not_ rant about it to the girl she believed to have a ready and willing ear waiting?  But with each passing second Evie’s ears were less ready and willing and more trained to just tune Mal out every time she opened her mouth.  
  
Unbearable.  That was the word that played like a song on repeat in the background of her thoughts each and every day.  Being around Mal was unbearable.  Being stuck in the dorm with her every evening was unbearable, even when she wasn’t there at all.  Evie was a being of poise, regality, and composure.  
  
And this was the closest she’d ever felt to snapping in her entire life.  
  
She had to get away, and it started slowly at first.  
  
“E?  Where are you going?” Mal looked up from her book when she heard the rustle of papers.  
  
“To the library,” Evie said easily, gathering up her notebook, worksheets, and purse.  "I’m trying to finish this packet.“  
  
It was a simple answer, one which Mal readily accepted, and Evie disappeared.  
  
One morning, Evie purposely set her alarm to have her up and out of bed before Mal even began to stir, and as such, she found her way to a choice spot in the dining hall towards the back of the room, where she sat alone as the rest of Auradon Prep started to trickle in for breakfast.  She’d hoped to make it in the clear for the entire meal, but her sorely addled mind underestimated the tenacity of her friends.  
  
"Hey, what are you doing all the way over here?” it was Jay’s chuckling voice that sounded behind her, but Mal was there too.  
  
The two of them had their plates in hand, on the way to the VKs usual table before spotting Evie all by her lonesome.  Evie came prepared, holding up her design sketchbook to them.  
  
“Just trying to get some new ideas in, thought I’d focus better by myself.”  
  
Mal opened her mouth to say something, but Evie would never know what it was, for Ben arrived to slip his arm around Mal’s waist and smile at her like she was the most dazzling sight in the world.    
  
And she was, Evie just didn’t like the thought of him acknowledging it.  
  
“Hi Mal,” he greeted.  
  
“Hey,” the expression on Mal’s face made her seem like she was about to give an uncharacteristic girlish giggle, but she stopped herself before any sound of embarrassing merriment, girlish or otherwise, could be uttered.  
  
Poise, regality, composure.  
  
“Hi Ben,” Evie waved and grinned in what was an impressive display of just  _how_  poised and composed she could remain.  
  
She held it together until the three agreed to leave her creative genius alone to work, then let the mask shatter with a sigh as soon as their backs were turned and they got far enough away.  
  
Evie was smart, but that didn’t make Mal an idiot.  
  
All it took was the two times for concerned suspicion to begin to settle in on Mal’s face, concern as to why Evie appeared to be avoiding her.  Evie knew she was still riding on the benefit of the doubt, and that one more time would lead to a confrontation between her and Mal.  She needed better, more viable excuses. And lo and behold, Auradon truly was a magical place, for at the end of school one day she traversed the halls on her way to the dorm and found it like a bright light and a hallelujah chorus had lit the way to it for her: fashion.  
  
A poster taped to the wall, pleasant cursive script spelling out “Auradon Fashion Club” while surrounded by little pictures of mannequins, scissors, a tape measure, colorful fabrics.  She didn’t have to fake anything when she got to the dorm, finding Mal had only just arrived herself and was dumping the contents of her schoolbag onto the bed.   
  
“Mal!  Mal!” she ran for her and clasped both of her hands, catching the girl off guard.  "There’s a fashion club here on campus!!“  
  
”…Really?“ the question mark above Mal’s head was almost physically visible.  "How did you of all people not know about this sooner?”  
  
Evie shrugged, her enthusiasm still riding strong.  
  
“I don’t know, maybe it’s new, or maybe they need new members, but I don’t care!” her smile shone like the sun.  
  
“That’s perfect for you,” a tiny smile curved Mal’s lips as well.  "Are you gonna go check it out right now?“  
  
"Oh, maybe I should…” Evie mused, having thought about waiting until tomorrow.  
  
“Better jump in there before someone less perfect beats you to it,” Mal spun her around and gave her a gentle push on the back in the direction of the door.  
  
Evie ignored the electricity under her skin where Mal had touched her and followed her momentum to the door.  
  
“Tell me all about it later, yeah?” Mal called out before Evie left.  
  
Evie stopped with her hand on the doorknob, knowing that tone.  
  
“Going out with Ben?” she innocently asked.  
  
“He’s about to spend a week in Cinderellasburg.  King stuff.  This is our last day together.”  
  
“Have fun,” Evie grinned, ducking out the door and into the corridor.  
  
She wandered back to the hall where she’d first seen the club poster, finding the room number in smaller print towards the bottom. School had only just ended, and Evie had a lot of company in the hallway.  There was such a shift at Auradon in the month or so since Ben’s coronation.  The VKs had proved themselves a force for good.  Faces were friendly now.  
  
Well, the majority of them.  
  
Not the face staring her down the instant she walked through the door.  
  
“…What are  _you_  doing here?” Audrey questioned incredulously.  
  
Evie stopped in her tracks right in the entryway, letting the door swing shut behind her.  Sleeping Beauty’s daughter may have made some version of amends with the daughter of her family’s worst enemy, but Evie herself had yet to receive a formal apology for the cracks against her royal status.  
  
“Fashion in Auradon?  Did you really think you could keep me away?” a haughty head tilt, a smug smirk, a show of just how royal she could be for Audrey’s benefit.  
  
It wasn’t just the two of them there, there were others in the room, but with Evie stoking an impromptu standoff, it certainly felt like they were the only two there.  Audrey had learned her lesson in picking fights with Mal not to mess with a VK, and seeing the no-nonsense glimmer in Evie’s eyes, wisely backed down.  
  
“Well, of course you’d want to join.  Normally, it’s by application, but for you we’ll make an exception.  Congratulations, you’re in.”  
  
Alright, so Evie still held a grudge for never getting that formal apology, but as of late Audrey had still come to her senses and toned down the vicious around the VKs; the hateful bite to her words was a surprise.  Now it was Evie who backed down, easing off the high and mighty.  
  
“…So why haven’t I heard of this before now?” she asked.  
  
“The club was full,” Audrey said simply, standing over a desk and shuffling through papers.  "But, we’re trying to start a weekly magazine, and we need more members.“  
  
"Evie of The Isle, at your service.”  
  
“Evie of The Isle, meet Ilene, Lucille, Jimmy, Verna, Eleanor, Jeffrey, Luis, and Rhoda,” Audrey tore her attention away from the papers to gesture in turn to each other club member.  
  
Evie gave a little wave to Rhoda and Eleanor, who she already knew from elsewhere.  
  
“So a magazine, huh?” Evie inquired.  "That’s pretty ambitious.“  
  
"Tell me about it.”  
  
Ahh, now Evie got it.  This wasn’t hateful Audrey, this was just bad mood Audrey.  
  
“First things first, you’ll need a name,” Evie noted.  
  
“We’re working on it,” Luis told her, sitting at a desk with a list of what were clearly name ideas, some scratched out, others not.  
  
“Well, you should consider—”  
  
The warning glance from Audrey told her the busting in and automatically taking charge was not appreciated.  The girl was clearly cranky, and as Evie didn’t feel like touching this right now, she again played it safe and backed off.  
  
Oh boy, it was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

Mal was long gone when Evie returned to the empty dorm, and really, she didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.  Mal spun her head, and at the moment, Evie was tired of it.  Physically tired, exhausted and drained, ready to crawl into bed and turn on a movie.  Who knew when Mal would be back for Evie to tell her about her afternoon, who knew if Mal would even  _remember_  that she’d asked to be told about her afternoon.  
  
She cast her purse aside, done with it for the night and not even going to bother with it, and went to change into a flowing, almost ethereal blue nightgown. Indulging herself like the princess she was, feeling like she deserved it, she let herself have a few fairytale twirls around the room, her nightgown spiraling out gracefully as she did so.  She wondered if Mal and Ben would ever go out dancing.  She wondered what it would be like to dance with Mal.  
  
A knock at the door interrupted her reverie, and Evie was expecting to see Jay or Carlos on the other end of the wood.  Not Audrey.  
  
“I forgot to tell you,” Audrey said, gliding right into conversation.  "Our next meeting is on Thursday.“  
  
"Think you’ll have a name for the magazine by then?” Evie teased, keeping a hand on the door in case bad mood Audrey made her want to silently close it in her face.  
  
“It’s a work in progress.  Just don’t be late.”  
  
Bad mood Audrey spun on her designer heels and was gone in a whirlwind of brown hair.  Evie shut the door with a slow shake of her head, more than ready to curl up with her movies and hopefully fall asleep before Mal got back.  Settling under her warm covers, pulling them up snugly, Evie was beginning to understand why her whole life had been one giant course in makeup, beauty, fashion, accessorizing, appealing to a prince, becoming the easiest but most enticing catch.  
  
Girls were complicated.


	2. Chapter 2

Like suffocating, or drowning, and then finally being given a chance to breathe; that's what it felt like to have Ben gone for the week.

No more having to look at the handholding, the walking shoulder to shoulder. No more sitting up alone in the dorm room with a million thoughts of Mal and what smiles she was smiling, what laughs she was laughing.  

The beginning of the first day was a bonafide fairytale.

There was Evie, up and awake first, standing at her dresser in the dark room, picking out an outfit by what little morning light was fighting through the curtains.  And then, quiet as a mouse, there was Mal beside her.  She'd somehow woken up and snuck out from under the covers without a sound, shuffling over to Evie and resting an arm on her shoulder (a thing she sometimes insisted on doing despite Evie being taller).

"Morning," she yawned.  Evie turned her head to see the heartbreaking messy hair of Mal's, wanting to both make it over with style, and to not touch it and get her heart broken by it over and over again.

"Good morning.  You're up early."

"Guess so," Mal ran her free hand through her hair, feeling the tangles.  "What's today?"

"Wednesday."

Evie pulled out two different v-neck shirts and draped them over the open dresser drawer, eyeing them both.  Mal wordlessly picked the one with open shoulders and handed it to Evie, casting her vote.  Evie smiled, but Mal was too sleepy to return the gesture.  She returned to her bed and sat down at the end of it.

"...Hey, how'd the fashion club go last night?" she asked, remembering.

Evie didn't know if Mal had remembered her request to be told all about it the night before when she returned from Ben's side, she'd made sure she was asleep before Mal got back to the dorm to skip out on hearing her best friend open the conversation with all the details of her grand Farewell-for-a-Week date with Ben.

"It was great," Evie said sincerely.  "They're going to start a fashion magazine, that's why they're bringing in new members. Most of the meeting was just trying to come up with a name for it."

"You can do that.  You came up with the name for your future clothing line like it was nobody's business."

"'Evie's 4 Hearts' was close to  _my_  heart. That made it easy," Evie explained, now trying to decide on a skirt or jeans.

"Fashion's close to your heart too."

"Yeah, but M, I can't just take over.  It's not  _my_  magazine."

"Might as well be," Mal shrugged.  "Who knows fashion better than you?"

"Audrey runs a close second," Evie said slyly, going for the skirt.

"Audrey's there??  What's  _that_ like?"

"Well, little miss Once Upon a Dream was not in the best of moods yesterday," Evie huffed, recalling the almost royal smackdown.

"Color me unsurprised," Mal soundlessly pointed to the skirt in Evie's hands, again casting her vote.  "For a girl whose mom is big on beauty sleep she sure seems to be getting up on the wrong side of the bed lately."

"Lately?" Evie repeated.  "Oh, great, you mean she's like this all the time now?"

"That's what Ben says, at least."

Of course.  That's what  _Ben_ says.

Evie took the pieces of her outfit and went into the bathroom without another word to go change, closing the door behind her. Mal sat there on her bed, blinking dumbfoundedly, pretty sure they were just in the middle of a conversation.  Not one to be cast aside, she got up and went right to the door, knocking on it.

"Uh, E?" she called out.

Evie opened the door a crack and poked her head out.

"Yeah?"

"We were talking."

"...Oh!  I know.  Just trying to get ready for class.  Go ahead, I'll leave the door open, I can hear you."

Evie ducked back into the bathroom to continue changing, leaving Mal with more dumbfounded blinks.  She was so not awake enough for this yet.

"...As I was saying, everytime Ben sees her now she's in some kind of bad mood.  No clue what her deal is."

Evie once again peeked her head out from the bathroom.

"You think maybe it has something to do with a certain VK snatching her boyfriend out from under her nose?" she asked.

The question was innocent, with no trace of malice or finger-pointing, but still Mal frowned, unamused.

"E..."

Evie frowned too, avoiding Mal's eyes.

"Sorry, M.  I didn't mean anything by it."

She returned to the bathroom to finish her morning routine and get dressed, switching places with Mal when she was done, but not before giving her a little twirl in her outfit to show off.  Soon enough Mal had her backpack and Evie had her bag, both slung over their shoulders as they left the dorm room to head for the dining hall together.

"So what are we going to do today, Evie?" Mal asked as they traversed the hallway.

"...What?"

"After school, I mean."

"You want to hang out after school?  With me?" Evie was having a tough time processing.  "...Because Ben isn't here."

"Because I want to be with my best friend, is that so hard to believe?" Mal chuckled.  "...I guess it has just been a lot of me and Ben lately, hasn't it?"

Evie didn't say anything.  An afternoon with Mal sounded like a dream come true, and a walking nightmare at the same time. An afternoon with Mal when all those pesky feelings were floating around Evie's head and chest was just adding fuel to the fire.  So to Mal's slight confusion, Evie just continued to stay silent all the way to the dining hall.

"Yo," Jay met them there, Carlos at his side, and the four of them got in line for their breakfast.  Evie smelled sweet, sugary things, and was greeted with a plate of French toast and syrup, fresh fruit slathered with whipped cream.

The VKs moved as one to their usual table, but didn't even make it there before someone was zooming right in front of their path, all-business, cutting them off.

"Evie, there you are," Audrey said almost sternly, as if it were entirely Evie's fault that she had no clue she was being searched for.

"...Audrey, what—"

"Emergency club meeting," Audrey took her by the arm, careful not to jostle her breakfast tray, and led her away from her friends.

Too bewildered to have much of a chance to argue, Evie just let herself be tugged along to the other side of the dining hall, where she recognized the other fashion club members gathered around a table with their breakfast.  Mal, Jay, and Carlos, watched her disappear as they took seats at their own table.

"...Since when does Evie hang with Audrey?" Carlos asked.

"Since yesterday, I guess," Mal told him, no small bit of disappointed that Evie had missed the chance to eat with them.  "She joined the fashion club."

"No kidding?" Jay inquired, already trying to snag some of Carlos' fruit.  "That's perfect for her."

"Don't I know it."

Evie sat down beside Audrey, where Jimmy and Ilene each greeted her with a good morning.

"We need a name for the magazine," Audrey jumped right into it, addressing the entire club.  "I know the next meeting isn't until tomorrow, but Fairy Godmother is the one we have to go through to get a magazine approved, and if we don't have anything to give her soon, we won't have a magazine at all."

Admittedly, Evie and her friends had never truly gotten the chance to get to know Audrey in their few months at Auradon, but even still, the large and in charge get-the-job-done Audrey seemed a little out of character to Evie.  With some small (maybe not  _so_  small) part of her hoping that if she could just get this over with she could return to her friends (and Mal), Evie adopted her own large and in charge get-the-job-done aura.

"You can't just decide on any old name.  It has to mean something.  What kind of fashion magazine do you want to have?"

"A magazine for all of Auradon," Audrey answered with an unspoken "um, duh" that was more like her usual self.

"Well yes, but that doesn't mean anything.  Auradon isn't just Auradon, it's Auradon City, Cinderellasburg, Camelot Heights, Neverland, Charmington, and as much as you hate to admit it, even The Isle of the Lost, to name a few. They're all part of Auradon, but all very different places.  You can't toss them all under one banner without something connecting them."

The others began to join in on Evie's brainstorming.

"Beast and Belle," Jeffery said, cutting his French toast.  "They united all of Auradon."

"And Belle sure was the epitome of fashion with her yellow ballgown," Rhoda added wistfully.

"Iconic," Evie nodded.

"...'Royal'," Ilene said.  "We should call the magazine 'Royal'."

"Something everyone strives to be," Eleanor agreed.  "Even you guys on The Isle."

"Yeah, Miss 'My mother's a queen'," Audrey teased Evie.  There was no cruelty or malice in her voice, just a genuine laugh, one that Evie couldn't help but smile at despite getting a mild case of whiplash from the girl's moods.

"My mother  _is_ a queen, and that  _does_  make me a princess," Evie gently argued.  "And I think Royal is the perfect name, don't you?"

"...It's at the top of the list.  We still have until tomorrow to bounce more ideas around," Audrey told her.

"Well, in that case..." Evie grabbed her tray of untouched food and made to stand up.

"Not going to stay and talk fashion?" Luis asked her.

"You normally couldn't keep me away, but I want to spend some time with M—...my friends.  I'll see you guys tomorrow?"

"Don't be late," Audrey said, skewering some fruit with her fork.

What a strange few minutes.  Mal was the first one to spot her when she crossed the dining hall and returned to the VKs' table, her meadow eyes seeming to light up.

"That was quick," she noted with a smirk as Evie settled in beside her.

"And where'd this sudden urge to join the fashion club come from?" Carlos wondered.  "All this time at Auradon and you're just now jumping at the chance."

"I...needed something to do with all my free time."

Mal frowned.

"...I guess you  _have_  had a lot of free time lately," she agreed.

Evie wasn't sure if she should count this as a breakthrough; the possibility of Mal coming to realize just how much time she'd been spending with Ben.  It could accidentally lead to her putting aside a part of each day for "Mal and Evie Time". It could lead to Evie's feelings about her eating her alive with each second Mal was so close yet so out of her reach.

There was that pesky little conundrum again.  Pine after Mal when she was off with Ben, and pine after Mal when she was right there by her side.

"You haven't even touched your breakfast yet," Mal chuckled, gently elbowing Evie.

"...I know, I'm...I'm getting to it."

Mal's touch lit her up with sparks.

"So, E, you never answered my question," Mal reminded her, digging into her French toast.  "You and me, after school.  What do you want to do?"

"...I'll have to think it over.  So many possibilities for a girls' day out," Evie put on her best actress smile to hide just how badly she was dying inside.

She couldn't help but think that falling in love with your best friend should've come with a warning label.


	3. Chapter 3

Saturday was a slow start. When Evie rose before her alarm she sat up in bed, gently rubbing her eyes and looking across the room to where Mal was still tucked under the covers, fast asleep and rolled over to face Evie. She didn't know how much time passed (or how much time she wasted) in watching Mal sleep, the peaceful innocence on her face and the sheets rising and falling with each breath.   
  
Mal had never been a peaceful sleeper. In the times Evie caught her napping back on The Isle, or the times when the VKs escaped their homes to spend the night in the hideout, "peaceful" was never the right word to describe Mal's sleep. She tossed, she turned, she never fell into a deep sleep, she always stayed just on the narrow knife's edge of asleep and awake, the smallest of sounds or movements snapping her eyes wide open.  
  
That was how she _had_ to sleep on The Isle.  
  
Yet here in Auradon, with no Maleficent, no rivals, no threat, no danger, Mal was the very picture of bliss as she slept. But Evie knew for a grim fact that it wasn't so much Auradon as it was Ben.  
  
She moved like a ghost through the dorm room after she finally managed to tear her eyes away from Mal; going from closet to dresser to pick out her Saturday outfit, then going into the bathroom to change and do her makeup. When she was dressed and ready for the day Mal hadn't even budged in the slightest. Evie couldn't stay.  
  
She couldn't stay and watch the endearing ease on her best friend's face, she couldn't stay and long to sit at the edge of Mal's bed and run fingers through her hair.  
  
So she left.  
  
Grabbed her bag after slipping on her boots and just walked out the door.  
  
Somehow, with no idea how, found herself in front of Audrey's.  
  
It was still early for a Saturday, but it wasn't like Audrey needed the beauty sleep. Plus, Evie could hear her rustling around inside. She knocked lightly and waited, listening to the sounds of Audrey stopping what she was doing to hurry to the door (which Evie knew Audrey wouldn't do if she was aware of who was on the other side). She too was dressed and ready for the day at this hour, outfitted in her cheerleading uniform of blue and yellow.  
  
"Morning," Evie greeted, determined to be the bigger person and keep any chance of strange animosity to a minimum.  
  
"Good morning," Audrey said in return, kicking a foot back to slip on a shoe.  
  
"Hey, listen, I know it's early, and I know the next club meeting isn't until Monday, but I was hoping you and I could talk about the magazine."  
  
"Evie, I would, but I've got cheerleading practice," Audrey said as she put on her other shoe.  
  
It was then that Evie noticed the urgency of her movements, not so much a girl who was running late, but a girl who wanted to be early.  
  
"Oh, okay," Evie nodded. Audrey, letting the whole thing drop, nodded as well and started to close the door, but unbeknownst to the both of them, Evie wasn't done yet. "Um, actually—"  
  
Hand on the door, Audrey stopped, leaving it open just halfway.  
  
"Could I maybe...come along?" Evie asked shyly. "Just to hang out?"  
  
Audrey was thrown for a loop.  
  
"You??"  
  
Evie fumbled for an excuse.  
  
"Well, Mal isn't awake yet, and it's Saturday, no homework...I really don't have much else to do."  
  
Besides sit and wallow in her feelings. Which she was not intending to do today.  
  
"You just want to stay in the bleachers and watch?" Audrey questioned.  
  
Evie could do nothing else but nod, hoping she wouldn't be shunned away and thrown back to Mal.  
  
"Alright. If you want," Audrey shrugged, disappearing behind the half-shut door to retrieve her purse.  
  
She stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her, joining Evie for a moment before leading the way. They walked in silence, Audrey really having no further need to question why Evie wanted to tag along. They separated without a word when they reached the Tourney field, practice being held outside to take advantage of the wonderful weather. Only two other girls had beaten Audrey there, and Evie climbed the bleachers, the sole occupant of the stands.  
  
It didn't take long for the rest of the squad to assemble, and soon enough Audrey was leading them in warm-ups, tumbles, jumps, pyramids, cartwheels, and backbends. Evie had her sketchbook and pencil case tucked away inside her bag, and as the routines went on, her attention fell to drawing and designing. She'd look up at the field every now and then, take a quick, studying glance at the cheerleaders, then duck her head back down and draw some more. Before she knew it, practice was over. The peppy music playing from the field speakers stopped, and the girls cooled down with stretches and slowly started to wander away.  
  
"Evie!"  
  
With her face buried in her sketchbook once more, Evie didn't even realize the field had now completely cleared out, and Audrey stood at the foot of the bleachers.  
  
"Wakey wakey, practice is over," Audrey went on when she'd gotten her attention.  
  
"...Oh, Audrey! Hang on a second!" Evie hurriedly shoved her pencil case back into her bag, keeping a hold of her sketchbook as she slung the bag over her shoulder and all but raced down the bleachers.  
  
"What?" Audrey frowned, raising an eyebrow as Evie met her face to face with an unusual shine in her eyes.  
  
"Quick question. Have you ever considered..." Evie turned her sketchbook out to Audrey with a grin and a flourish. "...New cheerleading uniforms?"  
  
Audrey's eyes went wide right away, lighting up with the same shine as Evie's as she looked over the sketchbook page in front of her.  
  
"...Meet me in the dining hall."

* * *

Audrey _zoomed_ to get to Evie after changing out of her uniform, barely even stopping to pick up a tray and grab her breakfast. Evie didn't think an Auradon girl knew _how_ to move that fast. But Evie, waiting at a table with her own breakfast, was met by Audrey soon enough, the princess all ears.  
  
"So let me get this straight, you'd really make us all new uniforms?" was the first thing that passed through Audrey's lips the instant she sat down.  
  
"Well, yeah," Evie laughed at Audrey's bewildered excitement.  
  
"But there's fifteen of us. You'd hand-make fifteen uniforms? For...what? For free?"  
  
"My clothing line is just getting off its feet. All I really have is the name. I figure this is a good way to showcase my talents to the school and start bringing in business."  
  
"Smart..." Audrey mused, ignoring her breakfast and leaning over to have another look at some of the styles Evie had played around with.  
  
Some were long-sleeved, some were sleeveless, some were emblazoned with the Auradon "A" and others with the school crest, and some Evie had purposely colored with deeper and richer hues, turning the school's blue and yellow to sapphire and gold.  
  
Audrey's hand seemed to hover near the sketchbook, like she wanted to run her fingers across the designs in awe but knew better than to touch an artist's work.  
  
"...I could never do what you do," Audrey sighed in a mixture of admiration and wistful envy. "I just obsess over fashion. I can't create it."  
  
The first kind words Evie had heard out of her mouth since...well, ever, really.  
  
"...Maybe that's true. But without people to obsess over it, the people who create it wouldn't get very far, would they?" Evie smiled.  
  
Audrey responded with a genuine laugh, an agreeing laugh. What an odd day Evie was having.  
  
"So the choice is up to you and the girls," Evie went on. "Pick any design you want. Or run some ideas by me, I can sketch some more things."  
  
"I'll have to go through Fairy Godmother first," Audrey nodded distractedly, still riveted with Evie's sketches.  
  
"Yeah, of course. I'll go with you, bring along my sketchbook."  
  
"Sounds good."  
  
"...E?"  
  
Evie hadn't even realized Mal had arrived to breakfast, didn't even notice the moment she stepped into the dining hall and definitely didn't notice her walking over to the table. Strange, for someone as attuned to Mal as Evie was.  
  
Mal looked from Evie to Audrey, sitting close together, very confused.  
  
"Oh, hi Mal. Morning," Evie looked up at her and smiled.  
  
"Hey. How long have you been up?" Mal asked.  
  
"Just a couple hours."  
  
Since coming to Auradon, Mal simply wasn't used to waking up and not having Evie be there.  
  
"Talking about the magazine?" Mal asked another question.  
  
"No, actually," Evie excitedly picked up her sketchbook and showed her cheerleading designs to Mal.  
  
"Very cool," Mal grinned, always impressed by Evie's flair for fashion.  
  
"Thanks, M," Evie's cheeks flushed pink, and she turned to Audrey. "We'll talk later, okay? Let me know when you go to see Fairy Godmother."  
  
"Sure," Audrey said.  
  
Evie nodded at her, putting her sketchbook into her bag and picking up her tray after slipping the bag on her shoulder. She said a goodbye to Audrey, and then followed Mal as she made her way to their table.  
  
"Was Audrey being _civil?_ What was that about?" Mal teased.  
  
"I guess she's having a good day," Evie shrugged. "Aren't you going to go get breakfast?"  
  
"After the boys get here," Mal said simply, reaching across the table to tear off a small piece of Evie's croissant to satiate her until the other two VKs arrived. "So, cheerleading uniforms, huh?"  
  
"I think it'll be good for Evie's 4 Hearts. I was telling Audrey it's a way to showcase my work and what I can do."  
  
"Are you gonna have time for all of that? Cheerleading uniforms, the magazine, school, and any other 4 Hearts business you might have?" Mal frowned.  
  
"I have nothing _but_ time, M."  
  
Mal's face fell. Evie honed right in on her shift in expression.  
  
"...M, we just don't spend time together as much as we used to, that's all," Evie spoke the words like they didn't break her heart every hour of every day.  
  
"...Is it really that bad?" Mal forlornly asked.  
  
"It isn't bad," Evie flat-out lied. "You have a boyfriend, why wouldn't you want to spend all your time with him?"  
  
"Because I have a best friend, too."  
  
Evie could feel it on her face; the sadness in her smile and the almost tearful glisten in her eyes.  
  
"...Mal, you know the fairytales just as well as I do. Boyfriend always trumps best friend."  
  
Mal had a vehement denial ready and waiting on her lips, but leave it to Carlos and Jay to decide that that was the perfect time to show up for breakfast.  
  
"Hey, I'm starving," Jay said.   
  
Beside him, Carlos stretched and yawned, not quite awake yet. Jay glanced at the table and saw Evie already with her tray, motioning for Mal to hurry and get a move on.  
  
"...Be right back, E," Mal quietly told her.  
  
"Of course."  
  
Mal got up from her seat and left with the boys for the breakfast line. Evie's eyes watched her go before flicking across the dining hall and curiously searching for Audrey, but she was already gone, disappeared somewhere with her friends.

* * *

School on Monday just couldn't seem to go by fast enough, and nothing got in Evie's way when her last class let out and she headed straight for the fashion club room. She'd bolted through campus so quickly that she thought for sure she'd be the first one there, but of course, Audrey had beaten her. Evie shut the door behind her and set her purse down on a desk.  
  
"Are those...did you...when did you find time to make cupcakes??" Evie questioned incredulously.  
  
Audrey, in the middle of rearranging the desks into a circle, looked over at the tray of cupcakes sitting daintily on one of them like she'd forgotten it was even there.  
  
"Oh, well, when your godparents are Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, you learn to bake for yourself if you know what's good for you. I was up early this morning, I had time on my hands. I guess they're sort of...'Welcome' cupcakes."  
  
Evie blanked.  
  
"...For me?"   
  
"I haven't been in the best of moods lately, I know that. I took it out on you a little because you were a convenient target. I know that too. So from princess to ex-villain, I thought we could clear the air," Audrey said.  
  
"...How about from one princess to another?" Evie suggested with a hopeful smile.   
  
Audrey laughed to herself, looking down at the floor for a moment before glancing up at the other girl.  
  
"Welcome to fashion club, Princess Evie."  
  
With a beaming grin alight on her face, Evie gave a playful curtsy.  
  
"Thank you, Princess Audrey," she bowed her head.  
  
The other eight club members eventually filed in one by one, finding Evie and Audrey already sitting down with cupcakes in hand. Everyone circled up, helping themselves to cupcakes too, and got to work. Evie cleared her throat, commanding the whole room with the soft sound alone.  
  
"I had an idea," she started.  
  
"You have a lot of those," Luis said, impressed.  
  
Evie proudly took the compliment with a pleased little smile before she continued.  
  
"So, instead of having to worry about materials, layouts, printing, distribution...I thought we could make Royal an e-magazine. Publish it online, update it _so_ much easier, and hear what the school thinks right away."  
  
A couple of the others gaped at her for a second or two.  
  
"...Okay, _that_ is genius," Ilene said, pointing at Evie.  
  
"I didn't even think about how much work would have to go into printing a paper magazine," Jeffery mused. "An online magazine would be a breeze."  
  
"Leaving us with more time to focus on the fashion aspect of it," Evie nodded in agreement.  
  
"Who votes for an online magazine?" Audrey asked.  
  
She watched the hands all around her unanimously raise, then raised her own as well.  
  
"We're in agreement. Nice job, Evie," Audrey grinned slyly.  
  
Nice job indeed. Evie was more than happy to bask in the triumph for the rest of the meeting.  
  
Until the club let out, and Evie returned to the dorm to find Mal laying across the bed and on the phone.  
  
"E!" Mal's face brightened at the sight of her best friend. "Perfect timing."  
  
Evie tilted her head as she set her purse down at the foot of her bed and took her shoes off.  
  
"Perfect timing for what?" she wondered with a confused little laugh.  
  
"Ben, Evie just walked in. Say hi."  
  
Mal turned on the speaker and held her phone out in Evie's direction.  
  
"Hey Evie," Ben's unmistakable voice came through the phone, as did the sound of the smile under his words.  
  
"Hi Ben," Evie really should've been startled by how quickly she was polishing off her Isle talent of burying her emotions at a moment's notice.  
  
She wouldn't even look in Mal's direction, just kept her head down and busied her hands with taking out what she needed to from her purse before she put it away. Mal switched her speakerphone off and went back to talking to Ben one on one.  
  
"I miss you," Mal said, with a ridiculous smile and a saccharine tone.  
  
It was a good thing Evie stuck firmly to her refined princess pride on a daily basis. Otherwise she might've punched a wall.  
  
Giggles, chuckles, and honest-to-goodness hair twirls around her finger came from Mal as she sat back and talked to Ben. Saying more to him when he was halfway across Auradon than she did to Evie when they were face to face. Ben would come back in two days. The giggles, chuckles, and honest-to-goodness hair twirls would only return in force when he did. Evie silently went into the bathroom to change, keeping her gaze trained as far away from Mal as she could while she moved.  
  
A closed door of wood did nothing to stop Mal's conversation from reaching Evie's ears, hardly even muffled it. Bathroom doors were far from soundproof.  
  
And that fact alone was the only thing keeping Evie from slumping down to the floor and bursting into tears.


	4. Chapter 4

Evie couldn't believe her eyes.  
  
Cameras flashing. Hands clapping. An actual runway, with actual models strutting their way up and down in a show of color and design. A  _real live_ fashion show, and Evie had a front row seat. Evie, Audrey, and the rest of their fashion club, snapping awed pictures of their own and taking down notes when they could find the time to tear their eyes away from the show. No doubt about it, they were coming out of this with plenty of material for the first official issue of their magazine.  
  
It had been extremely last minute when Evie found Audrey rushing to her side in the hallway after the day's last period and announcing her mother held such fabulous seats for the show (Aurora's connection with fashion had evolved since the days of "Make it Blue, Make it Pink"), but extremely last minute or not, there was no doubt that Evie would gladly rearrange her entire afternoon schedule in a heartbeat to make it. If she even had such a schedule, in the first place. Homework nonexistent, sketches for new cheerleading uniforms still in their rough draft stages, Mal taking in dinner and a movie with Ben; Evie had free time and free time galore.  
  
So she spent the evening surrounded by glitz and glamour, eyes sparkling and shining with the fashions and styles dancing in front of her. It was over far too soon for her, the lights dimmed and the cameras quit flashing. As the room began to empty, the members of the fashion club were some of the last ones left behind, talking excitedly amongst themselves about what they were going to write about in the magazine, what pictures they were going to use.  
  
"I was thinking about you," Audrey said as she stood up, moving close to Evie.  
  
"...Me?"  
  
Audrey nodded.  
  
"Someday it'll be your fashion show, and models wearing your clothes as they walk down the runway."  
  
"Audrey..." Evie felt her cheeks flush.  
  
"It's true," Audrey said surely. "Maybe sooner than you think. You're so talented, Evie. And everyone will see it when your clothing line starts up."  
  
The two girls walked together, out of the room and down the halls of the Auradon City venue.  
  
"Audrey, you...no offense, but you're a lot nicer than I gave you credit for," Evie laughed shyly as they stepped outside into the cool night air.  
  
Audrey took no offense, laughing a bit herself as she fished her keys out of her purse and unlocked her car sitting at the curb.  
  
"Yeah, well...I guess I just wasn't as eager to play nice with the VKs as everyone else was," she said.  
  
"Maybe that just made you smarter than everyone else," Evie offered with a shrug, sympathetic for the both of them. "I mean, it's in the name. 'Villain Kids'. And it probably didn't help that one of them stole your boyfriend, too."  
  
Audrey shook her head, leaning back against her car.  
  
"No, it didn't help," she agreed.  
  
"...Did you really love him?"  
  
Evie feared she might have stepped out of line, but Audrey held more patience for her tonight than she ever had before.  
  
"...Yeah, I loved Ben. We were different, and really didn't have much in common...but he was Ben, you know?"  
  
Evie did know.  
  
She was oblivious, and unintentionally cruel, and breaking Evie's heart every chance she got...but she was Mal. Evie just nodded.  
  
"I didn't mean to pry," she apologetically told Audrey.  
  
"It's okay, I don't mind. Ben is old news."  
  
Evie recognized the bravado, the flip of the hair, the haughty pride Audrey squared her shoulders with. A mask. One to hide pain, and tears. Evie wore that same mask herself everyday. Audrey dropped the subject, moving around the front of her car. She opened the door and slipped behind the steering wheel, with Evie climbing into the passenger seat.  
  
"I'm so glad I got a chance to see this up close," Evie gratefully said as the engine rumbled. "Fashion shows weren't exactly a thing on The Isle."  
  
Audrey and Evie were the last of the club to leave, with Audrey waiting and watching for the others to drive off safe and sound in their own cars before she hit the gas.  
  
"How did you get into fashion, then?" she asked Evie, turning onto the next street.  
  
"Well, in a twisted way, I have my mother to thank for that. Without Snow White around to do all the cleaning and cooking and sewing, those jobs fell to me when I came around. I just  _really_ took to sewing."  
  
"Clearly," Audrey laughed. "There's no one at Auradon Prep who can do what you do. Except maybe Fairy Godmother, and even she needs a magic wand."  
  
"...Thank you, Audrey. Really."  
  
Evie would almost daresay she was touched. The only other time she heard words like that was when they came from Mal. And Mal hadn't been saying them much lately.  
  
"The night's still young," Audrey eyed the time on her dashboard. "Any chance you want to work on the cheerleading uniforms together when we get back to school?"  
  
What a silly question.  
  
"I'd love to!" Evie answered right away. "My sketches are still pretty rough, I could use some more of your input."  
  
"And you're sure this isn't too much trouble? All the designing and sewing?"  
  
"I just see it as the exciting project it is. I love the work, it keeps my mind busy."  
  
Auradon's city lights were beautiful at night, Evie had to balance her attention between gazing out the car window and looking at Audrey as they talked.  
  
"You sound like someone with a lot of free nights to fill," Audrey cautiously noted.  
  
Evie could feel the surprise on her face, the slight widening of her eyes and curious raise of the eyebrows.  
  
Audrey had noticed. Noticed the cry for help always hidden just beneath the surface of her words.  
  
"...Mal spends all her time with Ben. I'm on my own most of the time now. Just me and my sketchbook."  
  
"Is that why you came looking for the fashion club?" Audrey asked, stopped at a red light.  
  
Evie frowned.  
  
"It's not just a distraction, Audrey," she said, worried the wrong impression had been given.  
  
"Oh no, I know. Someone like you within a two mile radius of the word 'fashion'? Trust me, I know. I just wondered why we never saw you sooner," Audrey explained. "But then again, you VKs still pretty much keep to yourselves."  
  
It was true, and Evie suddenly realized she hated it. Hated being stuck with Mal—or more accurately, thoughts and memories of Mal—hated being stuck with the boys constantly reminding her how Mal wasn't around. She thought back to the fashion show, the runway, the models, the starry eyes of Audrey and the rest of their club. Evie wasn’t thinking of Mal then. She wasn't painfully, bitterly envious of her evening with Ben, wishing with all her broken heart that it was her on the other end of that dinner date, her at the theater holding Mal's hand in the dark and laying her head onto a soft bed of purple hair. Evie's thoughts were of A-lines, pleats, epaulettes, hems. Mal and fashion. Fashion and Mal. Both were things that she loved.    
  
But only one was bringing her the lighthearted joy that love was supposed to bring.  
  
"I'm glad you joined," Audrey spoke up after letting Evie have a moment lost inside her own head. "In all honesty, without you we'd probably still be sitting in that classroom twiddling our thumbs."  
  
A smile from Evie. Warm, and bright. One that touched her eyes.  
  
"I'm glad I joined too. I guess I never really realized how much Mal, Jay, Carlos and I  keep to ourselves. Even on the side of good it's just hard to fit in here in Auradon. We've been all we've ever had...sorry, I didn't mean to bother you with my tragic backstory."  
  
Evie's bright smile was sad by the time she was through. Audrey thought nothing of it, eyes trained straight ahead.  
  
"You should hang out with me and mine," she suggested easily, suddenly unperturbed at the thought of a VK joining the ranks of her popular crowd. "Why don't you sit with my friends and I at breakfast tomorrow? I'll introduce you."  
  
Evie quickly shook her head.  
  
"Oh, no Audrey, I couldn't intrude," she denied.  
  
"It's not intruding. It's an invitation from one princess to another."  
  
So. Evie could take up Audrey's offer, and begin to make some friends outside the VKs and the fashion club. Or she could have breakfast as usual, which would most likely include an unannounced appearance by Ben, who would sit down close to Mal and feed her strawberries with laughter and smiles and Evie threatening to snap a metal fork in half in her grip. Decisions, decisions.  
  
"...Okay, Audrey. Thank you. From one princess to another."  
  
Evie playfully bowed her head in gratitude, eliciting laughter from the both of them. Easy, easy laughter.  
  
It seemed that time with Audrey was growing far easier to manage than time with Mal. 

An almost frightening thought.

* * *

 

Evie's grip lingered on the doorknob a little longer than it should have when she opened the door to her room and found Mal there. Mal, comfortable in her pajamas under the covers with her knees drawn and her sleepy eyes on the tv. Her head turned at the sound of the door opening, a tired smile fighting free when she saw Evie.

"Hey, E," she happily greeted. The poor thing was half asleep, it was clear in her voice. "I was waiting up for you."  
  
"...You didn't have to do that, M," Evie shut the door behind her and crossed the room to her bed, setting her purse down and shrugging out of her coat.  
  
"Well I didn't really see you much today. I at least wanted to say a real 'hi', you know?"  
  
Mal had more to say, but got caught up in how Evie didn't head for the bathroom to change into her own pajamas, or didn't seem to be winding down for the night in any way.  
  
"...Going somewhere?" Mal wondered, sleepy eyes becoming more alert.  
  
"To Audrey's room, to work on these cheerleading uniforms," Evie fished out her sketchbook and some pencils from one of the drawers of the desk.  
  
There was something Mal never imagined hearing.  
  
"Audrey's room?" she repeated with a frown. "But I thought we could watch a movie together until we fell asleep."  
  
"You're already half asleep as it is," Evie unknowingly spoke just a little too sharply.  
  
Evie didn't hear her own tone, but Mal did.  
  
"...Okay, Evie," Mal hung her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep you."  
  
She thought for sure her invitation would be welcome. A chance for her and Evie to start spending more time together. She was ashamed it never hit her until Evie had mentioned it, just how much of her day was monopolized by Ben.  
  
Just how long it had been since it was just her and Evie.  
  
"What about tomorrow?" she quickly spoke up as Evie just as quickly made her way back to the door. "Ben has a bunch of meetings after school, you and I could hang out."  
  
"I can't, Mal. Fashion club," Evie told her, opening up the door and backing out of the room. "Get some sleep, okay? Goodnight."  
  
Then Evie was gone, the door clicking closed and the soft sound of her shoes treading down the carpeted hallway getting fainter and fainter until it disappeared entirely.  
  
This was Mal's fault, she started to realize that. Evie had been neglected in all her silly girlish swooning; imagine if they had seen Mal like that on The Isle, all head in the clouds and ridiculous grinning smiles. Mal drew her knees in tighter, hugging them to herself and settling in for a night alone. Evie, meanwhile, was knocking on Audrey's door, clutching her sketchbook with her free hand. Audrey was just how Evie had left her when they parted ways at the top of the stairs, and she invited Evie to sit down at the desk.  
  
"Sure this isn't too much trouble?" Audrey asked, pulling up the chair beside Evie and taking her own seat. "Like, if you'd rather wait until tomorrow..."  
  
"It's fine, I promise," Evie flipped her sketchbook open to her uniform designs. "So, these are all different sketches that you haven't seen yet. I made a quick doodle of your team's current look up here, just for a little visual reference."  
  
Evie pointed with her pencil. Audrey followed along.   
  
And so the girls went through the pages together, talking of shells and skirts, elastic and zippers, polyester and spandex, blue and gold. It was an odd change for Evie, having someone else's input. She had always designed for herself and herself alone, her only input being Mal's occasional "That's cute" or a joking "Could use more purple". It was strange to have Audrey give her opinions, her concerns, and what's more, it was strange for Evie to actually  _care._  
  
"You like the long sleeves?" Evie asked.  
  
"I do, actually. It's different."  
  
"And not too different?"  
  
"No, not too different."  
  
Audrey reassured her with a smile. Mal used to do that, when Evie was spent and frustrated and seconds away from ripping and crumpling whole pages out of her sketchbook with hot, teary eyes.  
  
"I also thought about maybe using black?" Evie went on cautiously, eyes gauging Audrey's minuscule reactions. "I know it's not a school color, but it would offset the blue and gold really well, a lot better than the white on the old uniforms. Plus the tricolor design looks great, and black is really sleek and slimming."  
  
"I can't see Fairy Godmother saying no to that."  
  
"And the skirts? What do you think about the box pleats?"  
  
"A box pleat is great for our skirts, Evie, and we can keep the blue and gold band along the hem."  
  
Evie drew a light circle around one of her sketches.  
  
"So we're leaning towards this one, then?" Evie asked for clarification.  
  
"Yes, this one," Audrey nodded. "They're all amazing, but this one for sure."   
  
They had actually been talking for a while, sitting there at the desk while Evie altered sketches and made entirely new ones.  
  
"Then I'll redo this one with ink and color so we can show it to Fairy Godmother," Evie said.  
  
"You're the best," Audrey admirably told her.  
  
Mal used to think that too. Evie remembered with pink cheeks.  
  
"Well, I guess we'll call it a night," she shook her flush away with a literal shake of the head.  
  
"Sure," Audrey stood up, and Evie did the same. "See you tomorrow at breakfast?"  
  
"I'll be there."  
  
There were goodbyes, and goodnights, and a little over an hour after she'd arrived, Evie left Audrey's dorm and returned to her own. Mal had fallen asleep, tv on, head on the pillow, phone in her hand. Probably texting Ben. Like she didn't do enough of that already. Evie sighed, and went over to Mal's bed to tuck the covers around her and take the tv remote.  
  
She supposed she had to be thankful, and grateful, and enjoy it while it lasted—the sight of Mal fast asleep, a blissfully beautiful peace on her face. It was agonizing, seeing Mal as every bit the angel Evie knew she was yet having her so far out of reach. Heartbreaking, even. But at least she was here.  
  
Evie didn't know what she'd do with herself when Mal started sleeping elsewhere.

* * *

 

It was a funny little habit Mal never realized she had, rolling over almost every morning after waking up to face Evie's side of the room. Automatic. Sometimes before she even had her eyes open she was still turning herself towards Evie's bed. Maybe it was a preternatural Isle instinct—checking to make sure a fellow accomplice hadn't been snatched up and kidnapped in the middle of the night by rival villains. Or maybe Mal just really liked the comfort of feeling a soft bed beneath her, birds chirping around her, and a best friend waking up or setting out an outfit across from her.

Today, that comfort was gone. There was no Evie in the tidily made bed when Mal fought one sleepy eye open. No Evie in the bathroom, singing to herself or softly playing music as she went through her morning routine. And not even Evie at the VKs' table in the dining hall when Mal made her way there with Jay and Carlos. The boys weren't as concerned when Mal finally broke and made her inquiry as to Evie's whereabouts, simply chalking it up to another one of Audrey's emergency fashion club meetings. But Mal, admittedly thrown off with the absence of Evie, kept her head up and craned all around to spot her strolling in as the dining hall filled.   
  
Mal wouldn't find her, for Evie was far on the complete opposite end of the room, back to Mal as she sat at a long table with her omelette and Audrey. And Taylor, Sarah, Lindsey, and Ashley. Some of Audrey's friends outside of Jane and Lonnie, and the very epitome of Auradon with their noses upturned and their heavily shadowed eyes staring down at Evie like she was some slimy creature stuck on a microscope's glass slide.  
  
Evie was certainly no pushover, she could last her three rounds with the Auradon crowd, but...something was different this time. Something had Evie shyly keeping her head ducked down, shoulders hunched, fork absentmindedly picking at her food as Audrey's friends poked and prodded at her. If her mother could see her now...  
  
"You really eat  _garbage_  on The Isle?" Taylor's pointed nose wrinkled.  
  
"It's not  _garbage,_  it's just... _leftovers,"_  Evie corrected.  
  
As if they even had a choice on The Isle. As if Auradon sent caviar and filet mignon across the sea and the villains simply scoffed at the offerings and dug through the trash instead.  
  
Evie glanced up just long enough to see Ashley, with her hair like a silken curtain of blonde, blinking dumbly.  
  
"But like, it's rotten apples and moldy bread and stuff," she pointed out.  
  
"Yeah, well, that's what ends up on The Isle," Evie muttered.  
  
"Gross," another girl snapped. Evie didn't care to see which one.  
  
"No wonder we need some dumb villain outreach program."  
  
Again, Evie didn't bother to see who was talking.  
  
"Evie? You done?" Audrey suddenly spoke up.  
  
With a practically full plate and only a few bites of breakfast settled in her stomach, Evie let her fork drop to the plate with a clatter.  
  
"Yes," she flatly told her.  
  
Audrey stood up from the table, scooting her chair back and taking her own plate in hand. Evie did the same, following the princess as she left the table and crossed the room to the nearest trash cans.  
  
"...Evie, I'm sorry," Audrey said when they stood alone. She cast a narrowed glare back in the direction of the table before softened eyes looked apologetically to Evie.  
  
"It's fine," Evie dumped her food. Maybe this, at least, would end up on The Isle.  
  
"It's not. I was one of the loudest voices when it came to being all anti-villain, and I guess...I just surrounded myself with people exactly like me."  
  
"...They're not exactly like you, Audrey. I don't think they're anything like you."  
  
Audrey sadly shook her head as she took both her empty plate and Evie's, setting them on the shelf above the trash can.  
  
"You're just saying that," she sighed.  
  
"I'm not."  
  
"Yeah, well..." Audrey laughed ruefully. "I'm sorry trying to make friends backfired on you."  
  
Evie managed a smile.  
  
"I've still got the fashion club. Thank you for trying to help me fit in, at any rate. And speaking of fashion club, I'll see you after school."  
  
Audrey nodded. Evie nodded back, and after a bit of a silent stare-down, she nodded her goodbye as well and turned to leave.  
  
"...Evie, wait," Audrey reached for her, lightly touching her arm and turning her back around.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Are you and I...friends?"  
  
Evie had never seen that on Audrey's face before. She never even thought she  _would_  see it. Tentative, frightened worry. The same tentative worry that decorates a pretty face when it asks a question it doesn't want to hear the answer to—a question it's afraid it might hear a "no" to. And Evie could tell, in just that single layer of concern dancing in Audrey's eyes.  
  
She didn't want to hear Evie say no.  
  
"Of course we are," Evie smiled brightly.  
  
And it wasn't a lie.  
  
"I mean, as long as you want us to be," she added cautiously.  
  
"Well, now that I have you, I can't imagine myself not wanting us to be friends," Audrey told her with a relieved grin. A dazzling grin.  
  
"...From one princess to another," Evie happily told her.  
  
That phrase was slowly becoming their thing.  
  
"From one princess to another," Audrey gave a single, firm nod.  
  
"E!!"   
  
Mal came bounding over. It was weird to see Mal bounding. She took one look at Evie, and then a slightly confused look at Audrey.  
  
"Bye, Evie," Audrey dismissed herself with a wave and strolled off back towards her table.  
  
"Bye," Evie saw her off with a lighthearted smile before she turned her attention to Mal.  
  
Mal paused for a second, thinking Evie was going to give her the usual "Good morning, M". But no such thing happened, and Mal was left to open the conversation on her own.  
  
"Aren't you eating breakfast with us?" Mal pointed her thumb over her shoulder at the VKs' table.  
  
Strange, here was the exact same look. Tentative, frightened worry. A face asking a question and afraid to have it answered with a "no". But Evie's soft brown eyes searched out their usual table with ease, seeing Jay, Carlos—and Ben. The three boys eating, talking, laughing together as they probably shared in a joke.  
  
"...No thanks, Mal. I'm not hungry."  
  
She didn't give Mal a lighthearted smile, or a goodbye. She just turned and left. And then was gone.  
  
And Mal had seen it happen with her own two eyes. She saw Evie holding a warm and welcome smile for Audrey, and Mal saw it slowly fade and disappear into nothingness when her presence replaced that of Aurora’s daughter. Like she wasn't welcome.  
  
Like Evie didn't want her.  
  
So Mal returned to the table and sat back down, with Jay's laughter, Carlos' grin, and Ben's arm around her shoulder.  
  
And she was almost certain she'd never felt quite so alone in her entire life.


	5. Chapter 5

Soft.  
  
As weeks passed, that was the word that wandered and idled through Evie's mind when she looked at Audrey.  
  
A soft smile, prim and proper but nonetheless dazzling. Audrey was constantly wearing one as she watched Evie work, as they sat in the campus garden while Evie put her finishing touches on the final design of the new cheerleading uniforms. As soon as she was done coloring, and inking crisp, black lines, she and Audrey would present to Fairy Godmother, and both girls were ever so sure the headmistress would wholeheartedly approve.  
  
"Audrey, can you hand me that pen?" Evie asked, pointing to the ink pen that was closer to the princess on the glass patio table they sat across from each other at.  
  
Audrey didn't move, didn't respond in any way. She was watching Evie work, and completely fascinated by every expert stroke of the thinner pen she already had in her hand, the way a light pencil drawing was boldly coming to life before her very eyes. She hadn't even realized Evie had stopped.

"...Audrey?"  
  
"...Hm? ...Oh, sorry Evie. What did you say?"  
  
Soft laughter. One princess embarrassed to be caught daydreaming and another princess amused to have caught her in the act.  
  
"I asked if you could hand me my pen, right there in front of you."  
  
This time, Audrey did so, and Evie buried herself back in her design.  
  
"...I wish I had some sort of talent," Audrey sighed to herself just then.  
  
A soft sigh. Like one of the spring breezes drifting past them in the garden.  
  
"You can sniff out a sale faster than anyone I know," Evie chuckled, eyes down on her paper.  
  
"Yeah, and what did that ever get me?"  
  
"Some pretty good deals. And a princess should know how to work a deal."  
  
Audrey laughed again, soft and sweet.  
  
"Thanks, E."  
  
Now Evie looked up, eyes wide and alert. E. Not once had she ever heard that name pass from a pair of lips that weren't Mal's. Soft lips. The kind that Audrey had that were curving into a shy smile as Evie just stared.  
  
"...What?" Audrey fretted, unsure what she'd done to garner such an expression from her friend.  
  
"You know what I think? I think you have a good heart, Audrey. And that's more important than any flashy talent in any flashy kingdom. I mean, you could juggle knives blindfolded, on one foot, no less," Evie giggled to herself. "But if you didn't have a good heart, it really wouldn't matter much, would it?"  
  
"...You know what  _I_ think? I think you're the first one to ever say something like that to me."  
  
A soft smile. Prim and proper but nonetheless dazzling.  
  
"Not so bad for an Isle kid, huh?" Evie joked.  
  
"...No, E. Not so bad."  
  
Soft sentiments. Evie quickly ducked her head back down.  
  
"So, designing a cheerleading uniform would make a great article for Royal, don't you think?" she asked, talking fast.  
  
"Yeah, it would," Audrey nodded.  
  
"Maybe we could...co-write one?"  
  
Evie wanted to subtly step around the fact that the end of working on a uniform would signal the end of her and Audrey and their one-on-one time together. It would send Evie back to her dorm room, watching Mal walk out the door for a date with Ben and wasting lonely hours waiting for her to walk back through it.  
  
"Sounds like a plan," Audrey agreed.  
  
"...Okay. Good. Great."  
  
Soft fluttering in Evie's chest at the thought of continuing to spend time with Audrey instead of spending time wishing she was with Mal. Mal used to be soft, very much so. Soft eyes of green, soft skin, soft waves of purple falling past her cheeks. How cruel it was, for such a soft girl to become so hard for Evie to be around.  
  
Auradon certainly had a vicious sense of humor.

* * *

 

Loud.  
  
That was the word Mal had come to associate with Ben more and more recently.  
  
Loud knocks on the dorm room door that Mal knew right away couldn't have belonged to Evie, loud knocks that were the exact opposite of the easy, gently rapping ones Mal was always listening for nowadays. Disappointment was what she wore on her face when she realized she wouldn't see her best friend out there in the hall; a disappointment that Ben didn't bother to read when Mal opened the door.  
  
"Hey, Mal!"  
  
A loud aura. A smile too bright and an attitude too exuberantly eager. Until Ben came along, Mal had never done bright, exuberant, or eager. Lately, being with Ben brought on tiny little moments that had reminded her exactly why. Such as this one, with a doorway between them and a Mal who needed some time to herself and would much rather not have to see her boyfriend right now.  
  
"Hi Ben."  
  
Ben, comfortable and close as he was to Mal, came right into the room without waiting on an invitation, sure that one wasn't needed. Most days, he would be right. Today, Mal was sorely wishing for an opportunity to decline him one. Solitude was her agenda for the afternoon, and Ben was definitely putting a damper on it.   
  
A loud clap, one that Ben used to command attention, to lend more exuberance to his demeanor, to preface an announcement, or sometimes all of it at once.  
  
"I have a surprise for you," he grinned.  
  
Mal's heart sunk. A surprise from Ben meant her and Ben together, which continued to poke major holes in her plans to spend time alone.  
  
"Oh, Ben, can it...could it maybe wait? I'm not exactly in the mood for surprises today."  
  
She hadn't exactly been in the mood for surprises all that week, or the week before, or the week before that. Now Ben stopped, studied Mal's face and finally read the disappointment there.  
  
"...Mal? What's wrong? You haven't been yourself lately."  
  
Not since being dumped by Evie, no.  
  
"...I don't want to talk about it," Mal sunk into the chair at the desk.  
  
Ben took her hands and pulled her right back to her feet.  
  
"Okay, you don't have to talk about it. All you have to do is come with me."  
  
Mal tried to tug her hands loose, although halfheartedly, which only made it easier for Ben to keep ahold.  
  
"Ben, no, I really don't want to—"  
  
"Come on, Mal. The council meeting is tonight and I want to make sure the dress fits perfectly."  
  
Now Mal found the strength to tug her hands away. Maybe a little too much strength, freeing herself with a rough yank.  
  
"...What? What council meeting, what dress??" she blurted.  
  
Ben's face fell, like he thought he was on another planet where uttering the word "dress" in front of Mal wouldn't garner such a reaction.  
  
"You're sitting in with me on my council meeting tonight," he said, letting pride take over for confusion as he summoned up a dashing smile and a slightly know-it-all nod of the head.  
  
Mal couldn't believe what she was hearing.  
  
"...Sorry, but I'm having trouble remembering when you  _asked_ me if I  _wanted_  to sit in on a council meeting," she sharply said.  
  
Pride faltered, and quickly left Ben right where he'd started out—confused.  
  
"This is a chance for us to spend more time together, Mal."  
  
"With me stuck in an itchy dress listening to the people who kept me imprisoned for sixteen years talk politics?" Mal bitterly grumbled, sitting back down at the desk. "Throw in a box of chocolates and let's call it a date."  
  
It had been a long long time since Mal bitterly grumbled. Ben couldn't wrap his head around the attitude.  
  
"When I'm off being king, you and I don't get any time to ourselves. And since I'm  _always_  off being king, I thought this was a compromise!"  
  
A loud voice, raised with strain and stress.  
  
"A compromise involves two people, Ben," Mal raised her fingers to show off the number, getting her point across. "Not you deciding to play dress-up and parading me in front of your council."  
  
It had been a long long time since Mal had snapped at anyone, too.  
  
"Sorry Ben, but dresses and politics aren't my idea of a good time, especially not today."  
  
Ice cream and pajamas and a pile of movies with Evie. That was Mal's idea of a good time right now. Ben puffed up, which he was sure made him look more in-command. Mal just thought it made him look like a bird.  
  
"Mal, you're my girlfriend. You're practically a lady of the court. And as a lady of the court, you have to be familiar with the council, attend the meetings—"  
  
"Do all the things that aren't my job?"  
  
Ben bristled.  
  
Loud emphasis on things that had already been said, like saying them at higher decibels would make them truths, make them right.  
  
"As my girlfriend, you—"  
  
"Yeah, your girlfriend. Not your business partner," Mal interrupted. "Look, I'm not having the best of days today, I just want to be left alone for a little bit."  
  
"...Alright. Okay. I'll leave you alone."  
  
Ben didn't look at her as he left the room, closing the door behind him with a loud click. But Mal had lied. She didn't want to be left alone.  
  
She wanted Evie back on speaking terms with her again.

* * *

 

Evie was stunned to feel a strange aching in the center of her chest as she gathered up her sketchbook and pens before rising from the table out in the garden. Mal wasn't there. Mal wasn't there talking about Ben. Ben wasn't there talking about Mal. Those three things alone were the only reason Evie carried an ache in her chest as of late, and in the absence of them, she should've had a clean bill of health. But then it hit her like a striking bolt of lightning as she caught sight of waves of brown hair fluttering in the breeze.  
  
The ache wasn't from the thought of going back to Mal. It was from the thought of leaving Audrey.  
  
"What are you doing tonight?" Evie blurted, horrified that her mouth had just, like, taken over without the consent of her brain.  
  
"Me?" Audrey questioned, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and out of the wind's reach. "Nothing, really. It's not like I made definite plans for anything. Why?"  
  
Here was Evie's chance to back out, to laugh it off with a "No reason" and go about her merry business.  
  
"Do you want to hang out later?"  
  
There went that mouth of hers again.  
  
"We could see a movie, maybe? Or get something to eat?" Evie suggested, clutching her sketchbook tighter and tighter to her chest.  
  
"...You're asking me?" Audrey marveled. "You wouldn't rather hang out with Mal?"  
  
Evie sighed heavily.  
  
"I'd really rather not."  
  
It struck Audrey then, just how little of Mal and Evie she'd seen together lately.  
  
"...Hey, is something going on with you two?" she gently, worriedly asked.  
  
Evie laughed weakly for lack of a better reaction.  
  
"Yes, actually...but I don't want to bother you with it. It's my problem, not yours."  
  
Audrey's frown was sympathetic.  
  
"...Well, if you ever want to talk about it, I'll listen. It can't be easy to deal with, I know how close you and Mal are."  
  
 _Were_... Evie dejectedly thought to herself.  
  
"But a movie sounds good," Audrey went on. "See what's playing and text me later?"  
  
"Yeah," Evie eagerly nodded, a relieved smile curving her lips.  
  
"Okay. I'll see you then."  
  
Evie waved goodbye as Audrey turned and left.  
  
And then silently cursed Aurora and Phillip for their daughter turning out so darn pretty.  
  
Evie enjoyed Audrey's company, that much was certain, but what started out as enjoying Audrey's company because it kept her away from Mal had turned into enjoying Audrey's company because she was simply pleasant to be around. Evie never would've guessed. And she never would've guessed that Mal's face would light up with the warmest of glows when Evie stepped into the dorm room and closed the door behind her.  
  
"Evie!" Mal actually looked like she was about to bound from her bed to greet Evie in a hug, but thought better of it.  
  
"Hi, M."  
  
Evie's smile was an easier thing to manage after coming from an afternoon with Audrey. Mal watched almost studiously as Evie went to the desk and put away her sketchbook, her pens.  
  
"Cheerleading uniforms?" Mal guessed.  
  
Evie only nodded, unaware that behind her Mal fidgeted with her hands as her mind raced trying to come up with ways to pull more conversation from her best friend. Lately it seemed to be a rare occasion when the two found each other together in the dorm room, and with Mal not-so-wrongly feeling like Evie was making active attempts to avoid her, she couldn't let chances like these pass her by.  
  
"...E, do you have any plans for later?" Mal quickly asked, kicking her legs over the side of the bed and sitting on the edge of it.  
  
It took a moment for Evie to register the words. Mal taking such an interest in her wasn't something that really happened as of late.  
  
"...What?" Evie frowned, turning around to face Mal across the room.  
  
Mal looked down with Evie's eyes on her, as if too ashamed to meet her gaze in kind.  
  
"Evie, I'm  _so_  sorry I treated you the way I did, passing you over for Ben and everything. It was stupid, and I was stupid, and...I want us to be Mal and Evie again. Boyfriend doesn't trump best friend, and I just want a chance to start making it up to you."  
  
Evie was reeling a bit. Wasn't this exactly what she'd been waiting for? For Mal to realize the error of her ways, apologize, maybe even grovel a bit? Some dark, twisted part of Evie—probably a part of her latent Isle side—definitely wanted to see Mal eating out of the palm of her hand in her attempts to make it up to her, but now that the opportunity had arisen?  
  
"I'm sorry Mal, but I've already made plans with Audrey."  
  
Evie wasn't sure if this was a sign of personal growth or a traumatic head injury.  
  
"...With Audrey?"  
  
That was heartbreak in Mal's voice. Evie would know the sound of it anywhere.  
  
"We're going to the movies tonight," she casually added, like she wasn't watching Mal's world crumble before her very eyes.  
  
Mal was quiet for a moment, very much subdued until she suddenly hopped down from the bed and came rushing over like Evie imagined she might when she first stepped through the door.  
  
"Can I come with you guys?" she desperately asked.  
  
Desperation. Evie would know the sound of that anywhere too.  
  
"E, the last thing I want to do is intrude, but  _please._  Anything to get away from school."  
  
"What's wrong with school all of a sudden?" Evie laughed weakly.  
  
Mal hung her head with a heavy sigh, understanding that question was inevitable but hoping that maybe, just maybe, she would be spared.  
  
"Ben has some ridiculous royal council meeting tonight and he really thought he was going to drag  _me_ along with him," she explained with a huff. "Without even asking, Evie! Me, sitting in on some meeting with all the stuffed shirts of Auradon. So I told him off, of course, but if he comes back again—"  
  
"So you just want to hang out with me because you don't want to hang out with Ben," there was no emotion in Evie's voice.  
  
"...What? Evie, no," Mal frantically shook her head.  
  
"Yes," Evie insisted. "I'm only your backup plan, M. You don't actually want to be with your best friend anymore, you just want to fall back on her when your boyfriend isn't available."  
  
"E, that isn't true!" Mal grabbed Evie's hands and squeezed them tight, her previously ashamed glance now looking right into Evie's eyes.  
  
"...I'll ask Audrey if you can come," Evie quietly said, pulling her hands free. "But the next time you feel like you want us to be Mal and Evie again, do me a favor and just forget about it."  
  
Mal scrambled for words as Evie left her, struggled to make her feet move to chase after Evie as she walked out the door, but all of it was to no avail.  
  
Some small part of her, buried deeply inside, wondered if she'd give up Ben a hundred times over if only it meant getting Evie back.

* * *

 

It was a quiet ride to the movie theater; Audrey behind the wheel, Evie beside her, Mal alone in the backseat and staring avidly out the window. Sympathetic to the plight of Evie's tensions with Mal—and purposely left out of the loop on what had gone down between them in the dorm—Audrey of course let Evie invite Mal along. Thought it might be a chance for them to mend the rift.  
  
Mal was clearly still thinking the same, sticking close to Evie as they all stood in line at the ticket window, staying all smiles for her. Trying very, very hard to prove herself to her. She could make everything right between them. She just  _had_  to.  
  
"E, what kind of candy do you want?" she asked, browsing the stands when they got inside. "My treat."  
  
"Mal, it's fine, you don't have to buy me candy," Evie walked (or stormed) over to grab her choice of candy and take it to the register herself.  
  
Second by second, Mal was losing the confidence that she could make everything right.  
  
On the Isle of the Lost, the phrase "caught between a rock and a hard place" was often a literal one. In Auradon, it was more like "caught between an Audrey and a hard place", with Mal sitting to Evie's right, and Audrey sitting to Evie's left. Imagine Evie's surprise and confusion when it was there, in the slowly darkening theater, that she realized she was rather looking forward to it just being her and Audrey. Not her and Audrey attending the fashion club, or her and Audrey collaborating on cheerleading uniforms...but her and Audrey, sitting close in the dark with a whole other world coming to life on the screen before them and the tantalizing smell of popcorn in the air.  
  
Mal's head automatically finding its way to its treasured spot of Evie's shoulder as the previews began threw one big wrench in Evie's expectations. Evie stiffened in her seat, shocked and maybe somewhat appalled to find herself actually  _uncomfortable_  with Mal's closeness. The same closeness she shared with Ben, the closeness Evie longed for that now seemed simply cruel and taunting now that she had it. Cozied up to Mal at a movie should've been Evie's dream come true, but all she could do now was constantly and anxiously glance to the left and hope that Audrey wasn't watching.  
  
She imagined that Mal's infuriating habit of always having Ben on the brain was what possessed her to skip getting popcorn for herself in favor of sharing with her best friend, and Evie found herself tensely on high alert to make sure she and Mal didn't fall prey to the "reaching-into-the-bag-of-popcorn-at-the-same-time" ruse. It was a nightmare. Forty minutes in, Evie didn't think she'd once laid eyes on the movie, watchdogging Mal's every move the way she was. It was a strange sense of claustrophobia, having her so near, and when Mal finally stirred to mindlessly adjust her position, Evie leaned away just as reflexively as Mal had leaned over in the first place.  
  
And Mal knew that gesture. The scramble to get away, to put Maleficent's daughter at a distance. She'd grown accustomed to it from both Isle and Auradon alike. But she never imagined she'd come to see it from Evie.  
  
"...Bye, E," Mal whispered, making the move to stand up from her seat.  
  
"...What? Where are you going?" Evie whispered back.  
  
"Back to the school," Mal stood and checked her pockets to make sure she had everything. "Ben's meeting might be over by now, I'll have him pick me up. Sorry for barging in on your night."  
  
"Mal, we invited you," Audrey told her.  
  
"...And I know Evie well enough to know that she doesn't want me here right now," Mal turned her head away, afraid that even in the dark, Audrey and Evie might see how close she was to crying.  
  
"Mal..." Evie murmured, unsure of what else to say.  
  
"See you later."  
  
Mal hurried along down the aisle, dropping her inherited Auradon mannerisms and roughly shoving past the knees and feet blocking her way. To her credit, she held it together until she made it outside the theater, didn't let the tears roll down her face until she was huddled against the brick wall of the building with Ben's picture lighting up her phone as she called. He didn't answer. Must have still been with the royal council. Desperate to just get the heck out of there, she tried again.  
  
 _"Mal?"_  he answered this time. His voice was hushed, very obviously from excusing himself from his meeting.  
  
"Ben, can you come get me? I'm in town, at the movie theater," she sniffed.  
  
 _"Just give me a couple minutes, okay? We're almost done here."_  
  
"...Okay."  
  
 _"Bye, Mal."  
_  
"...Bye."  
  
Mal slunk down to the pavement, sitting down there and leaning back against the wall. Her tears were evident in her words, her voice thick and cracked as she spoke. It was clear to anyone and everyone who listened that she was softly crying.  
  
And Ben hadn't even asked what was wrong.  
  
It wasn't as if Mal expected him to rearrange his life for her; she knew he was in the middle of a royal meeting and couldn't just walk out with a nod and a wave. But even still, Mal couldn't help but think that if she'd called Evie in tears and asked to be picked up, her best friend would drop anything and everything in a heartbeat just to get to her side.  
  
Once upon a time she would have, at least.

* * *

 

Audrey knew that if Evie wasn't even paying attention to the movie when Mal was there, she certainly wasn't watching now that Mal had gone.  
  
"E? Do you want to just go?"  
  
Evie was loathe to ruin Audrey's evening, but some fine company she made frowning into space with her candy and popcorn forgotten beside her.  
  
"...Yes, Audrey. I'm so sorry."  
  
"Don't be sorry," Audrey said simply.  
  
Evie clung to her snacks as they left the theater and wandered out into the cozy evening air, where the parking lot was aglow with lamplight and all the cars glistened underneath. Slowly was how they made the walk to Audrey's, with Evie's faraway gaze on the pavement, and Audrey's gaze firmly on Evie.  
  
"...I really am sorry," Evie quietly murmured. "I invited you out and made the whole night miserable before it even really got started."  
  
"It's not miserable. You told me something was going on between you and Mal, I should've known you were asking me if she could come along just to say that you asked, and that you really didn't want her to come with us."  
  
Audrey's car unlocked with a beep, and the girls slid inside. But when Evie was buckled up and settled back in her seat with a heavy sigh, Audrey appeared to be in no hurry to go.  
  
"...Can I ask you something, Evie? If I'm way out of line, feel free to just ignore me and forget I ever asked, but can I?"  
  
Evie frowned, letting her head fall to the side as she was laid back miserably against her headrest so she could at least be remotely facing Audrey's direction as they talked.  
  
"Sure," she agreed, confused but curious.  
  
The car wasn't on, but Audrey had her hands instinctively around the steering wheel regardless, just needing someplace to rest them while she carried on the conversation.  
  
"...You're in love with Mal, aren't you?"  
  
Evie had never been struck through the heart with a flaming arrow, but she imagined this might be what it felt like. She wanted to deny everything, possibly with a frantic  _"What??"_ , a stern  _"No!!"_ , or maybe even a desperate and scrambling  _“Mal who?"_. All good choices, all solid plans. And not a single one of them were uttered past Evie's lips.  
  
"...How do you know that?" was what she said, her voice a ghostly whisper, strained with shock.  
  
"You forget that I have firsthand experience with all the mannerisms of a person who loves someone that doesn't love them back," Audrey smiled sadly. "You were dying with Mal that close to you, I saw it. Dying because all you wanted to do was probably put your arm around her or pull her even closer but you knew that you couldn't because Mal has a boyfriend and you're just a best friend."  
  
Evie didn't know how she'd gotten to the verge of tears so quickly.  
  
"...I'm so stupid," another barely-there whisper from her. "Falling in love with Mal was bad enough, but falling in love with her while she's with Ben??"  
  
"You can't help who you fall in love with, Evie," Audrey was so very gentle. "I know I certainly couldn't help falling in love with Ben, and we barely had anything in common. But you and Mal, who have been through so much together on both The Isle and in Auradon? Evie, of course you love her."  
  
"But she doesn't love me," Evie wildly shook her head. "And everytime I have to look at or even  _think_  about her and Ben..."  
  
"...That's why you've been avoiding her," Audrey realized. "Because it's just too hard."  
  
"The people we love are in love with each other," Evie glumly said. "There's a story Auradon's never heard before."  
  
Audrey reached a hand over to take one of Evie's, holding it tight.  
  
"It sounds like a situation that calls for ice cream," Audrey gave a smile.  
  
"...You can't possibly still want to hang out with me after the downer I've been tonight," Evie pulled her hand away. Audrey just took it back.  
  
"Can't I?" she laughed. "I told you that if you wanted to talk, I would listen. Do you want to talk?"  
  
"...Yes."  
  
Then ice cream it was.

* * *

 

It was a strange sight when Evie got back to the dorm room. One lamp on, no tv flickering, and Mal curled up in bed with only her head poking out from the covers to stare blankly into space.  
  
"...I brought you popcorn," Evie said, holding up the rolled up bag with a crinkle.  
  
"...You didn't have to," Mal muttered.  
  
"I wanted to."  
  
Evie kicked her shoes off and left them at the door, crossing the dorm to leave the popcorn on Mal's nightstand and gingerly sit down beside her on the bed. Silence. Evie was almost drawn to twiddling her thumbs as she and Mal waited out the quiet. But, she figured, Mal had already made her apologies that day. Maybe now it was Evie's turn.  
  
"I'm sorry about tonight, M," she sighed.  
  
Mal shut her eyes tight, and buried her face in her pillow.  
  
"...I'm sorry you're stuck with me as a friend. Obviously I'm not very good at it," her voice cracked.  
  
It was enough to make Evie want to hold her close and kiss her forever, kiss all the hurt and pain away.  
  
"Mal, that isn't it. You're the greatest friend, the  _best_ friend, and that's why I just...I just miss you. You're always with Ben, always talking about him, and even tonight, when it was finally you and me...it still felt like you'd rather be with him."  
  
A convenient lie Evie had thought up at the ice cream parlor to dodge the hard truth of what was really happening back at the theater.  
  
"I'm happy for you M, really, I am. You really like Ben, and you have an amazing relationship going for you two. It isn't fair for me to be selfish enough to ask that you make room for me too, but I really do miss you. That's all, Mal. That's what all this has been about."  
  
"I've been trying to make Mal and Evie time for us," Mal reminded her.  
  
"I know, you have. But I guess I'm just not used to us having to 'make' Mal and Evie time now. We never had to _try_ to spend time together, it was just what we did. Things are just changing with Ben in the picture now...we're both trying to get used to it, I suppose."  
  
Mal opened her eyes again, blinking to keep back another round of tears she could feel pooling viciously at the thought of Evie slipping through her fingers and the landscape of a fierce friendship changing forever.  
  
"Evie, we can't change," Mal finally sat up, a desperate shine in her eyes. " _Please._  What do I have to do to keep us together?"  
  
 _Break up with Ben. Leave him behind. Look into my eyes and realize that I can love you better and harder than he ever could._  
  
Dark thoughts of Evie's spoken from her Isle side that weren't altogether unappealing to her usually stoic and self-sacrificing Auradon side.  
  
"...You don't have to do anything, M. We'll always be together."  
  
The smile she faked threatened to crack the stony set of her face as Mal fell forward to again rest her head on Evie's shoulder.  
  
"I can't lose you, E. No guy in any kingdom will ever be worth that."  
  
Easy words to say now. Easy words that would be easily forgotten by Mal the very next moment Ben flashed a grin or slipped an arm around her waist. Evie should've been warmed by the fact, warmed that Mal still held—or believed she held—her best friend so close to her heart. It was Mal who laid her head on Evie's shoulder in times of trouble and turmoil, craving her warmth and craving her comfort to still a racing heart or slow a racing mind. It was Mal who always laid her head on Evie's shoulder, feeling out her rock and her strength to help her understand that everything would be okay.  
  
And right now, in a barely-lit room once more settled over by a thick fog of silence, Evie was the one who needed warmth and comfort, a rock and strength. She had a racing heart and a racing mind crying out for help to understand how being in love with her best friend could possibly ever turn out okay. In a barely-lit room once more settled over by a thick fog of silence, all Evie could do was think about how much she longed to close her eyes and lay her own head on Audrey's shoulder. 


End file.
